Farm Business Planning

Farm Business Planning works directly with farmers like you to enhance your ability to make smart decisions about your farm operations.

HOW WE DO IT

Individualized Help

We come to your farm to provide confidential assistance with:

New business planning & business plans

Value-added business planning

Cash flow analysis and financial projections

Pricing your products and services

Planning for farm labor and personnel management

Assistance with farm loan packaging and other funding

Farm Teams

We coordinate experts who work in teams with you to identify and solve problems, develop new ventures, and help farms in turn-around. Examples of projects our teams can assist with are:

Succession planning

Increasing financial stability

Increasing production and managing growth

Farm business start-ups

Food hubs

COST AND ELIGIBILITY

Initial services are provided FREE of cost. Ongoing services and assistance may come with a fee. (Any possible fee will be fully disclosed and discussed prior to receiving any fee-based services.)

You must be willing and able to commit your own time and effort to the process. To develop a business plan, we estimate that most farmers will need to commit at least four hours a week over a period of several months.

You must be a year-round Maine resident and own or operate a farm in Maine for which you have daily management responsibilities.

You must have grossed at least $10,000 on-farm income in the previous tax year.

If you need help with loan packaging, or if you plan on applying for a loan or grant in the next 18 months, you should obtain your credit reports and purchase FICO scores from all three credit reporting agencies. You can get a free credit report once annually – or any time if you have recently been denied credit.

Get in touch with us at (207) 338-6575. We’ll mail paper versions of our application and Farmer Self-Assessment.

MORE RESOURCES

Beginning Farmer Services

If you are a farmer with limited experience operating a farm or conducting a land search, contact us to schedule an initial consultation and to learn how we might help you with a land search or other services. As a leading member of the Beginning Farmer Resource Network of Maine, MFT can also help you connect to other organizations and programs, if your needs fall outside the scope of our services. Learn More.